SIPP charges

We're committed to transparent and fair charges that offer you excellent value, and are among the lowest in the market.

  • Setting up your account - FREE
  • Holding cash in your account – FREE
  • Paying money into your account - FREE
  • Accessing your SIPP – FREE

When you invest in a SIPP with us, the charges you pay are made up of:

Custody charge

This is our annual charge for managing your account, which is payable monthly - there is a different charge for holding shares or funds.

Shares custody charge: 0.25%
(max £10 per month)
Funds custody charge:
First £0 - £250,000 0.25%
Next £250,000 - £500,000 0.10%
Value over £500,000 No charge

Dealing charges

This is the charge you pay each time you buy or sell shares or funds.
 

Shares dealing: £9.95 (reducing to £5.00 from 1 April 2024)
Frequent shares dealing charge:
(if you had 10 or more share deals in the previous month)
£4.95 (reducing to £3.50 from 1 April 2024)
Fund dealing: £1.50

Shares – includes ETFs, investment trusts, gilts and bonds

Funds – includes unit trusts, OEICs and structured products

Example of how we calculate your charges

Meet Grace

Grace has a SIPP with us valued at £60,200 - made up of £24,000 invested in shares, £36,000 invested in funds and £200 in cash. Here's what Grace would pay in custody and dealing charges (you can click between the tabs to see the full charges breakdown).

Portfolio value:

£60,200

£12.50per month*
£24,000 in sharesCalculation: 0.0025 x 24,000 / 12 £5.00
£36,000 in fundsCalculation: 0.0025 x 36,000 / 12 £7.50
£200 in cash No charge
* This is only an example of our charges. Your actual monthly charge will depend on the exact value of your account and investments at the end of each month, which will vary due to market fluctuation and growth.

Dealing charges depend on how many investments you buy and sell. The example below illustrates Grace’s dealing activity in a given month.

£22.90
2 share deals Calculation: £9.95 x 2 £19.90
2 fund deals Calculation: £1.50 x 2 £3.00
If you don't buy or sell any investments during the month, you won't pay any dealing charges.

Use our charges calculator to estimate the charges you'll pay for investing in a SIPP with us.

Charges calculator

Important to know about charges

The investments you choose may have their own charges, such as charges from a fund manager. These are in addition to our custody charges. You can learn more by reading the investment’s key investor information document. We’ll automatically take all custody charges from your SIPP monthly. You’ll need to keep cash in your account to pay any charges.

Other charges

  • International dealing charges
    You will pay our standard dealing charges to buy international shares. In addition, there is a foreign exchange charge on international shares and foreign currency funds. For full details please visit our international dealing page.
  • Other dealing charges (per deal)
    Dealing by telephone £29.95 (reducing to £25 from 1 April 2024)
    Regular investment £1.50
    Dividend reinvestment £1.50
    Application for non-standard investments £100
  • Government tax and levies (per deal)
    UK stamp duty 0.5% on purchases of UK shares
    PTM (Panel on Takeover and Mergers)   £1 on UK share deals over £10,000
    Irish stamp duty 1% on purchases of Irish shares
    French financial transactions tax 0.3% on purchase of certain French shares
    Italian financial transactions tax 0.1% on purchase of certain Italian shares
    Spanish financial transactions tax 0.2% on purchase of certain Spanish shares

    For information on other overseas transactions tax that apply, see our international dealing page.

  • Transferring account(s)
    Transfer account to another provider No charge

For more information on all our charges, and how they're applied, see our full list of charges.

We'll take all charges from your SIPP, unless you've requested otherwise. These charges are effective from 1 July 2023. VAT is only applicable where indicated.

You need to make sure there's always enough cash in your account to cover our charges as well as any pension, lump sum or other payments, when they're due.

You can also hold cash in your SIPP while you're deciding where to invest. That’s why we pay interest on cash you hold. You can see our latest cash interest rates as well as our previous interest rates. Remember that we change our rates from time to time.

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Frequently asked SIPP questions

  • How do I pay my monthly custody charges?

    We'll collect your charges for your SIPP from the available cash you have in it. So you need to make sure you have enough cash in your account to cover charges when they're due.

    We collect our funds and shares custody charges monthly – usually within 20 business days of the month end. Our custody charge is based on the mid-price value of your account’s investments on the last working day of the month. Fund managers may also have their own charges, which they’ll take out of the fund itself.

    Your dealing charges are included in the contract total when you buy or sell an investment.

    There's no custody charge for holding cash in any of your investment accounts.

    Pay your custody charges from your Dealing account

    If you prefer, you can pay the custody charges for all your accounts (SIPP, ISA etc) from the cash in your Dealing account. To set this up, open a Dealing account if you haven’t already, then email customermaintenance@ajbell.co.uk to ask us to collect all your custody charges from your Dealing account.

    This will apply to all your existing accounts with us, as well as any you go on to open in the future – so there's no need to email us your request again.

  • What happens if there isn't enough cash in my account to pay my charges?

    If you don’t have enough cash in your account to cover charges, we’ll still deduct the amount due, which will make your account overdrawn. If you then add cash to your account, or receive cash from dividends or interest, it’ll go towards clearing the overdrawn amount.

    If your account is still overdrawn, we’ll get in touch to ask that you add cash or sell investments to clear the overdrawn amount. As a final resort, we’d sell investments in your account to cover it (with a dealing charge of £9.95 per investment sold). We'll normally sell units of your largest fund holding first.

  • How do I qualify for the frequent dealing charge for shares?

    The frequent dealing charge for shares is based on the number of shares deals you placed in the previous calendar month, across the accounts in your individual name (excluding any regular investment and dividend reinvestment deals). You need to place 10 or more online share deals in one month to qualify for the frequent dealing charge in the next. For example, if you make 10 or more online shares deals in January, the frequent dealing charge of £4.95 will apply for February.

  • Are there any charges for taking income from my SIPP (drawdown)?

    When you reach age 55 (rising to 57 from 2028) you can access your SIPP. There are no charges for accessing your SIPP using drawdown or to take lump sums from your pension. Read more on drawdown.

  • What are the charges for accessing my SIPP using capped drawdown?

    If you are accessing your pension via capped drawdown the following charges apply:

    One-off payment of a tax free lump sum or income payment £25 + VAT
    Regular income drawdown payments £100 pa + VAT
    Reviews of capped drawdown (includes triennial/annual reviews and reviews when additional funds are moved into drawdown) £75 + VAT

    If you're in capped drawdown, you can choose to transfer to flexi-access drawdown, which has no charge for accessing your SIPP. More information on transferring from capped to flexi-access drawdown.


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